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SOMETIME in 2013 Lagos will overtake Cairo to become Africa’s largest city. This is confirmation of a decisive shift away from the ends of the continent and towards its tropical middle. Within a decade Lagos will have 16m people; Kinshasa, in Congo, will have 15m. The standard view of cities as generators of wealth, diversity and ideas will be challenged in Africa. To become liveable, cities will have to improve public transport, address rising violent crime and generate opportunities for young Africans. In 2013, over half of all city-dwellers will be under 18 and every African election will be decided, statistically at least, by first-time voters. What is certain is that African cities will be the most informal economies in the world in 2013. Some 70% of workers will live on their wits, relying on day labour to make enough to eat, pay rent and send their children to school. That will make cities dynamic and mobile, but also combustible. See full article.

Are other countries of the world targeted by the Infamous Nigerian eMail Scams?

Many people have only heard of Lagos because of the billions of emails that are sent.
Nigerian eMail = Dangerous Junk SPAM
Apparently Carnies run Lagos.
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I think it is symptomatic of local Nigerian corruption that expands globally.
I am sure that African neighbors are wary of the practice.
And scammers move on to the next communication innovations like txting, twitter and Facebook.

By the way my rich uncle died in a car accident, and in his will, he named YOU {NAME HERE} as a major beneficiary.
Can you provide a bank account and passport number to allow transfer of vast funds?

The fact that Nairobi is bigger than Addis Ababa is what I call it African Statistics - denying the reality and believing the paper. Is the population in Addis any less that 5m? Is that crowded city with a land size almost twice Nairobi has less population? The economist tells us so, but for someone who lived in those two cities, not really!

Honestly, sometimes I get desapointed with the economist; check; Lagos population between 15 to 20 million; Luanda between 6 to 10 million. Addis Abeba between 3 to 6 million. Cairo between 17 to 20 million...and so on

In France we've got British scam too. Submit a product on ebay, priceminister, leboncoin or vivastreet and you'll get tons of mails from africa and britain from people which want to buy your stuff and are ready to pay 150% of the price. But they want to pay with paypal and you'll never see your money.
Paypal is so flawed.

The big issue, like anywhere in the world, will be to employed most of those people. The good thing about Africa is that the continent has a lot of land, labor and natural resources and almost everything needs to to done. The bad part is that the greatest Africans minds are either outside the continent or overlooked on the continent.

It depends on how you look at it. Cairo proper is around 12 million, but the greater Cairo area (which includes all of the smaller surrounding cities and towns that are close enough to where people commute in and out of Cairo daily for work, night life, etc.) then it is around 20 million, as you said.

You've got a point... Unfortunately, I've never been to Africa, but I can't help noticing that the African Union headquarters is located in Addis Abeba. Brazil has opened an embassy there a few years ago.

they're projecting population growth probably on the size of slum growth. oh, sorry, "informal settlements" -- africa's biggest informal settlement is already in nairobi, so i can see the extrapolation.

"I believe that 2013 will show a significant growth path in real estate development in Lagos, Accra, Abuja and other African cities. It's just a matter of funding. The REDI Foundation is hard pressed to make some positive difference. Others will join in and do their part."